


What's Left

by major_arcana



Series: Cigarettes and Crucifixes [3]
Category: Constantine (TV), Hellblazer & Related Fandoms
Genre: Feast of Friends, Guilt, Other, more like feast of feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-21
Updated: 2015-03-21
Packaged: 2018-03-18 21:00:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3583788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/major_arcana/pseuds/major_arcana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After A Feast of Friends, Gary Lester's sister comes looking for her brother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's Left

 I handed a wad of cash to the taxi driver as a roll of thunder sounded through the night air. Rain pounded down all around me, winds whipping at the coat I futilely tried to wrap more tightly around myself. As the headlights vanished from view, I approached the unassuming cottage before me. Ink bled down the scrap piece of paper as I checked the address for the hundredth time. -I've found you-

Three rapt knocks. "John?!"

Three more. "John?! Open up!"

Again, nothing. I sighed in frustration and began knocking nonstop, increasing until I was beating ceaselessly against the door like rain upon the roof. Suddenly, the door swung open to reveal a wide-eyed woman, wild curly hair surrounding her face.

"Who are you?" She asked exasperated, looking at me with suspicion.

I gave her a look of incredulousness. "Who are you? And where's that good for nought, son of a.."

"Zed, who is it?" A familiar voice grew nearer, until a towering bearded figure came into view.

"Chas? Is that you, mate?" I stood on my tip toes to look around the woman before me.

"Lucy? What are you doing here? Come in, come in, you'll catch your death."

I stepped past the woman--Zed, it would seem, to embrace my old friend. Though the house was bright and warm, I found myself shivering; my hair sticking to my face and clothes dripping on the rugs and floor. I looked around. The place was filled with old and odd looking artifacts, scattered papers, and there was evidence of half a dozen rituals being performed--half spent candles, pentagrams painted on the floor, the odd sigil or two.

"I'll grab some towels, can I get you anything?" Chas inquired.

"A cuppa would be nice, ta." I took a seat on the old couch near the fireplace, warming my hands. Zed sat across from me, looking me over with curiosity.

"I'm sorry--Zed, is it? For earlier. I've just...I've come so far to find him."

"John?"

"To kick his arse. And my brother, Gary."

"Gary?" Her eyes widened once more and she looked into the fireplace.

"Yes, have you heard from him? I heard he was coming to the states for something. I only assumed it would be to get wrapped up in Constantine's mess again. I've come to bring him home."

 "Bring who home?" Chas returned with a warm mug of tea and a large towel, which he draped around my shoulders.

"Her brother." The two exchanged a look I found altogether discomforting.

"What is it?"

Chas gave out a long sigh. "You know, John will be back soon. You two should...talk."

I looked down at the mug in my hands, swirling the bag around the warm water. Why was it always ominous with John? I admit, I wasn't expecting to come here and find Gas playing scrabble, fit as a fiddle, waiting to tease me for worrying. But its universal. This kind of talk is never good. And anything to do with John was certainly bad news.

Zed's voice snapped me out of the fog, asking if I wanted to borrow some clothes to change into. Numbly, I affirmed an followed her up the stairs.

"How long have you known John?" I asked, peeling off my soaked layers.

"A few weeks, though I've been seeing him for much longer."

"Some sort of psychic, aye?"

"You could say that." She handed me a pair of leggings and a pullover sweater.

"Be careful. He's enigmatic and charming, but he's dangerous. And friends fall around him more then they stand."

"So it would seem."

Her brown eyes did little to hide the sadness and worry behind them, and I began to become even more anxious myself about whatever was going on. Though I was warm, a cold ball of nausea still sat in the pit of my stomach, and it was growing.

"Lucy!"

I walked down the hallway towards the main room. I looked down at the two figures below; Chas, looming over John, who stood there, soaked, running a hand through his wet hair. They were arguing about something, which I soon guessed to be myself when John gestured wildly behind him, turning to find me standing in that direction. His face, once angry, fell.

"Hello, John." I descended the stairs slowly and he walked over to the mantle, pouring a glass of some unknown amber liquid.

"Lucy."

"Are you not going to look at me? How long's it been?"

"Are we counting the letters to Ravenscar?" He turned to face me, grimly.

"Where's my brother, John?"

"Gas....Gary came to me, shaking..sweating..covered in tracks..the usual detox, desperate. He's always been my mate. But the bastard was a junkie..."

"Easy, now. He just needed help."

"And how many times did you pick him up from some squat, covered in sick after another binge? How many times did he go to rehab on daddy's dime? He would have knocked himself off eventually."

"What..what are you saying?"

"He freed a hunger demon...and a pretty nasty one at that, Lucy. You have to understand."

"I don't have to understand shit! What have you done?" My voice began to crack, which only made me more angry.

"He tried to contain it, but it got loose. Consuming person after person. It couldn't be contained in any object. It was out of control."

I paled.

"It had to be a person. He had to take the demon inside and become the vessel. I'm so sorry. There was no other way."

Tears began to well in my eyes. I grabbed the glass from his hands, throwing it against the far wall.

"Bullshit! How could you do this to him?"

"He---"

"No! I don't want to hear about what he did. I know Gary was broken and selfish and a junkie, but he was my brother, John! He's all I had left! And this never would have happened had he not met you!"

We stood in silence for an age. When my breathing settled into a normal rhythm, I finally asked, "Where is he?"

"Are you sure you want to see him?"

"Is he still alive? Will he know I'm there?"

"Its hard to tell at this point. He's been in a state for days. He might be there but...its not that easy. The demon is eating through him."

"Let me see him."

He took me through a longer hall, stopping at a door guarded by several locks. As he finished with the last, he warned me for what I was about to see. But it wasn't enough.

There he was, my twin, lying comatose on an old mattress, half tied to a metal frame. His dirty white shirt clung to him, drenched in sweat and blood, his breathing coming in uneven. I ran to his side, gasping and weeping. His face was tear stained, dirt and blood mixed together amidst the strange marks that were carved deeply into the pale flesh of his face.

"Oh, Gary...Gary I'm so sorry." I sobbed, brushing his hair back. His eyes were half lidded, and he looked at me--or through me--but there was no recognition. His body suddenly seized and twitched for a few seconds before lying still again, and I looked to John pleadingly. He stood at the doorway, avoiding my gaze as he looked at his feet.

"Is there nothing you can do for him?"

"I sat with him for the first twelve hours, love."

"But he's in pain.....look at him. Look at him, John!"

"I know!" He spat. "If I could take his pain, don't you think I would? If there were any other course, don't you think I would've taken it?"

"He's my brother. We came into this world together. I was supposed to take care of him." I said softly. John walked over as I took my brother's limp hand into my own.

"I'm sorry it had to be this way."

I nodded. He reached out towards me, but I shoved his hand away.

"Was it worth it?" I looked up from Gary's body at John, who had a pained look on his face. He looked over the  figure lying on the bed. The one that was his friend, that used to be my brother.

"Yeah. It was."


End file.
